Britney Spears’s father Jamie calls her controversial conservatorship a ‘great tool’ in rare interview

Jamie stepped down as conservator of pop star’s estate before the arrangement was terminated in November 2021

Britney Spears’s father Jamie has defended the singer’s controversial conservatorship as a “great tool” for “protecting her” and her children.

Last year, Britney was freed from the 13-year legal arrangement that controlled most of her personal and private life, after a judge terminated the conservatorship in November 2021.

Two months prior to the ruling, Jamie stepped down as conservator of his daughter’s estate. This was after Britney appeared in court and spoke about what it was like living under the conservatorship for the first time.

The “Oops I Did It Again” hitmaker called for those responsible for the conservatoriship to be “put in jail” and said she “deserves to have the same rights as anybody does”.

In a new interview, Jamie said the conservatorship saved his estranged daughter’s life, helped her regain control over her finances, and get partial custody of her sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, the 70-year-old said: “Not everybody’s going to agree with me. It’s been one hell of a time. But I love my daughter with all my heart and soul. Where would Britney be right now without that conservatorship? And I don’t know if she’d be alive. I don’t.

“For protecting her, and also protecting the kids, conservatorship was a great tool. Without it, I don’t think she would have got the kids back.”

Jamie also said Britney was “broke” when she was placed under the conservatorship in 2008, disputing that the Grammy winner was worth $50m (£41m) at the time.

He said: “She was broke. She had no money whatsoever. The conservatorship set a resource where she could get back financially.

“And, you know, we worked – and she worked – and she got herself straight up financially.”

Jamie told the outlet he understood that conservatorships could “help someone regain their life and return back to society, and to be able to live normally”.

“I want to say that I made a difference,” he added. “There were a few people behind me that really helped bring it to a point where we could help her.”

The Independent has reached out to Britney’s representatives for comment.

The public movement to help free the pop star from the conservatorship, which many believed was abusive and severely limited her personal freedoms, gained significant traction in 2019.

Jamie has previously dismissed #FreeBritney as a “conspiracy theory” and a “joke”.

The movement grew in 2021 after the release of the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears.

You can find a full timeline of the conservatorship here.